Obituary of Lareane Loretta Prather

Lareane Loretta Prather, 75, of Kalamazoo, MI, passed away peacefully on June 20th, 2022, after a 2 ½ year of illness.

Lareane was born in Three Rivers, MI, on March 24th, 1947, the fifth daughter of the late Frederick and Pearl (Banks) Anderson.  

Lareane was a kind and loving sister, aunt, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, who left behind many happy memories. She was raised in a family of strong faith and family core values and eventually passed this on to her children.  

Lareane graduated from Three Rivers High School in 1965. After graduation, she married Will Slack and moved to Kalamazoo, MI, and started a family. To that union, they were blessed with three children,  Cassandra C. Slack-Mays of Atlanta, Georgia, Kevin S. Slack Sr., and Charles S. Slack of Kalamazoo, MI.  

In the early 70’s, Lareane met and married Lowell G. Kelley, they moved to Battle Creek, MI, and started a family. To that union, they were blessed with three more children, Karen N. Kelley of Atlanta, Georgia,  Karla M. Kelley, and Ryan K. Kelley of Kalamazoo, MI. Lowell Kelley was hired at Kellogg Company and  Lareane became a stay-at-home Mom. They together felt that faith was needed to raise six children, so they started studying the bible with one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and in 1973 got baptized. Serving Jehovah as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses remained a major part of Lareane’s life.  

Lareane was a woman of many talents. She loved to dance, joke, read and spend time with her family.  She learned to cook all the meals her children loved, she would sew and make many of her children’s clothes from scratch as well as handmade toys for her children.

Lareane was trained and certified as a  masseuse and nail technician. But Lareane’s passion was arts and crafts, she would eventually teach herself to make beautiful, beaded jewelry. She was a very busy woman but enjoyed doing all of it and doing it well.  

Lareane leaves to cherish her memories, her children, Cassandra C. Mays, Kevin S. Slack, Sr., Charles S.  Slack, Karen N. Kelley, Karla M. Kelley, and Ryan Kelley; grandchildren, Jeremie Kelley, Keenan Mays, Taryn  Slack, Allyiah Slack, Kaylah Jackson, Taylor Slack, Jazmyn Jackson, Jada Slack, Rahya Kelley, Atira Datson,  Kevin Slack, Jr., Rahnyi Kelley, Cody Kelley, Ryan Kelley, Jr., Riley Kelley, and Zayden Kelley; great-grandchildren, Kalen, Jeremiah, Denzel, Nea, Meadow, Forest, Gabriel, Noah, Juriah, Marie, Akiela and  Nakama; sisters, Beverly Scott, Anita (Jesse) Boyd, Banita (Raymond) Drain, Brenda Moncrief, Fred  Anderson, John Anderson and a host of nieces, nephews, aunts, cousins, and friends.  

Lareane was preceded in death by her parents, Frederick (Betty) Anderson, and Pearl (Emerson) Mitchell;  sisters, Daisy Layton, Carol Scott, Marilyn Hooper; brother Dwayne Anderson; niece Joanne Scott.